Mozambique Ordains Its First Women Anglican Clergy

From Mozambique-

Joana Chilengue, Lina Maria dos Santos and Fatucha Rosemary are the first Anglican women clergy to be ordained in Mozambique. The presiding Bishop said the ordination of the three transitional deacons was a "very big milestone" for the diocese as it made plain the church's appreciation of women's ministry

The ordination of women in Southern Africa has been authorised by the Anglican church since 1992. However, it was only in 2015 that the synod of the Anglican Diocese of Libombos, Mozambique made the move to "open the altar to women."

Bishop of Libombos, Monsignor Carlos Matsinhe explained during the ordination ceremony that, "At the level of Southern Africa, the decision to ordain women was made 28 years ago, but each diocese has the prerogative to admit to ordination of women at their own discretion and we have been thinking and thinking for the last few years."

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Canadian Anglican Development Agency Begins Ambitious Maternal and Child Health Program

From All Africa-

The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) is pleased to announce a new joint program with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD). PWRDF will contribute $2,654,612 over five years towards the $17,697,412 project that will focus on maternal and child health in 350 villages in Burundi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania.

"PWRDF is deeply satisfied that DFATD has approved an ambitious proposal to scale up the work we are presently doing with them in three countries--Burundi, Mozambique and Tanzania--and adding Rwanda. At the three-year mark in our current DFATD programs, we are seeing many of the five-year results we were aiming at, due to our partnership with strong local partner organizations who know their countries, their cultures and their people," said Adele Finney, Executive Director of PWRDF. "As we accompany partners, and they accompany vulnerable people making lasting changes in their communities, we see more mothers and babies living and thriving through pregnancy, childbirth and the first years of life. We see siblings, fathers and families growing their own food with confidence."
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Mozambique: The Bishop Who Smashed Guns At the Altar

From All Africa-

INTERVIEW

The longest-serving Anglican bishop in the world, Bishop Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo, a church diocese which covers southern Mozambique, is to retire after nearly four decades ministry in that country.

Sengulane was consecrated as a bishop soon after Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975 and the ruling Frelimo party formed a one-party state. He led his diocese through the 15-year-long civil war which followed independence and played an important role in efforts which eventually brought about an end to the war. He was interviewed in late 2013 by John Allen.

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Anglican church in Mozambique growing fast, bishop says

From Episcopal Life-

In the richer countries of the world, churches of the Anglican Communion are facing dwindling congregations but it is a different story in one of the poorest areas of the globe, in Mozambique.

"Something that is not growing is not alive, and we are growing," U.S.-born Mark van Koevering, the bishop of Niassa in the African country, said at a service in London on September 19.

Speaking at St. John's Church in Waterloo to mark the 103rd anniversary of the Mozambique and Angola Anglican Association, van Koevering said, "Almost 150 years ago, Charles Frederick Mackenzie came to Niassa ... He died within six months of arriving, having established four churches. There are now 136 Christian communities and 8,000 to 9,000 Christians in the diocese."

In a briefing after the service to supporters of the Mozambique and Angola association, known as MANNA, the bishop said that although his parishioners were some of the poorest people in the world, "they are all courageously facing up to the enormous challenges which followed destructive wars in which the Anglican church played a prominent role in establishing peace."

Van Koevering's wife, the Rev. Helen van Koevering, also serves as a priest in Mozambique.

The bishop said that within the Portuguese-speaking parts of Mozambique in the main urban areas, the Anglican church is growing fast and is only being held back by a lack of funds for training clergy and lay people, as well as for church building and transport.

"We are catholic [universal] but evangelism is absolutely central, and we are charismatic," he added. "We can't sit still. We have to get up and sing and dance. It helps to remove divisions between church people."


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Mozambique: Further Efforts Urged in Anti-Malaria Struggle

The president of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) movement in Mozambique, Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane, on Tuesday declared that, despite all the encouraging results achieved to date, civil society should still undertake further efforts in the fight against malaria.

Speaking at a press conference marking the start of a series of activities to celebrate World Malaria Day (25 April), Sengulane urged "let us make every day of our lives a day of struggle against malaria, so that it ceases to be the main cause of mortality among children and adults".

He lamented the negligent attitude shown by some Mozambicans. Sengulane claimed that a large number, although they have mosquito nets in their houses have stopped sleeping under them on the spurious grounds that the netting makes the room hotter, or disturbs their sleep.

He thought these were psychological problems rather than any real objections to the nets, whose primary purpose is to prevent the bearer of the malaria parasite, the anopheles mosquito from biting people, especially children and pregnant women, at night.

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